The present invention relates generally to conventional boat trailers, and more particularly to a loading guide which can be mounted on a conventional boat trailer for centering and accurately guiding a boat upon the receiving rollers and additional supporting guides of the trailer.
Trailers for loading, unloading and hauling of boats may take varying forms. They may include a frame with centrally located rollers to roll or move the keel of the boat and with bearing roller configurations distributed on the frame to fit the hull of the boat. The conventional trailer usually incorporates bottom rollers to guide the keel of the boat and has suitable guides of varying shapes thereon for guiding the hull when the boat is loaded on the trailer. The problem of loading a boat on the trailer, particularly under the conditions of waves or wind, is the translational forces tending to move the hull of the boat from a centered position on the trailer. Various structures have been incorporated in the trailer to help center and guide the boat hull as it is moved onto the trailer. These have included various arrangements of guides or lever arms mounted on the frame of the trailer which engage different parts of the hull of the boat to bias the hull of the boat as it is moved onto the trailer. Most of such arrangements have proven unsatisfactory in the sense that the guide arms are not interconnected and biased so as to properly apply a continuing centering force to the boat hull. Boat hulls generally vary in width from bow to stern and have their largest width dimension amidships such that any guide members positioned to engage such parts of the hull are unsatisfactory for initially guiding the bow end of the hull onto the trailer for centering purposes. Still other centering arrangements have employed narrowly spaced spring biased arms individually mounted on the rear of a trailer frame which may satisfactorily engage the bow end of a boat but are ineffective to hold the hull in a centered position on the trailer after it is started to move onto the trailer. Examples of such prior constructions will be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. to West, 3,477,815; King 3,603,465; and Peak 3,021,969.